Rialto Ripples (1917)

File:
gersrialt.nwcJanuary 20103.29 kB00:02:15
Composer:Gershwin, George (1898-1937), American
About:http://www.naxos.com/person/Geor....._27204/27204.htm
Genre:Classical
Instruments:Piano
Submitter:Arrowsmith, Geoff
Email:cnut (e-mail)
Pd Status:This music falls within the Public Domain regulations of the European Union (it became PD in 2007, 70 years after Gershwin's death) but may still be copyright in other countries such as the USA. If you have a copyright issue with this music, please contact the submitter (email on this page) in the first instance, or contact the Scriptorium if you need to take this further.
There's no tempo on my sheet music. The tempo in the performance is just what sounds good to me. I think this is the only official "rag" Gershwin ever wrote. I don't know of any others, nor does a friend who's a major Gershwin freak - Rialto Ripples is one of his favourite things to play on his piano. I first heard it on the radio while I was driving. I was all agog, but I didn't catch the name though I was pretty sure it must be Gershwin. I called that friend and sang the melody. He identified it as soon as I sang the first measure.
Aside from errors (I hope none), the score is as I have it, except that on some rolled left hand chords, instead of using grace notes, I've used tied small white notes borrowing from the previous measure. That's because I want the end of the roll, not the beginning, to coincide with the corresponding chord in the treble. (one such example is at the end of measure 30). I did the same thing in one other place that's written in the score as grace notes, not a roll, at the end of measure 19. Elsewhere, I've used noteworthy's grace notes, though I personally would prefer that grace notes borrow time from before the main note rather than from the beginning of the main note itself. I had to do some gymnastics to get the upper ornament into notworthy in measures 74. 76, and 82. The sound comes out correctly though the notation is distictly flaky. I had to do what I did because I can't include rests as "chord members" in noteworthy, so I'd have to use another staff otherwise.
Will Donaldson - I don't know how much of a role he played, but the piece is usually casually identified just as Gershwin He may have been the arranger.